Is Social Media Making us Posers?

Have you ever shamelessly pulled a selfie? – arm outstretched, phone/camera/ heck even ipad in hand ready to take a pouty photo? There are many guilty culprits out there (not just celebs) but people aged 18-24 are the most likely to do so. In a recent poll by OnePoll, 30% of the pictures taken by people in this age range were selfies, shunning the traditional concept of capturing happy moments with friends and families.

Two thirds of the people questioned in the poll also said they prefered uploading photos straight to social media sites. 53% of people in the poll uploaded pictures straight to Facebook and just a third of people opted for the good old fashioned photo album. Around 1 in 5 people only take photos with the intention of posting them on Instagram and Facebook. On average after a snap is taken, it takes around 60 seconds for the image to be sprawled all over the social sharing sites.

These stats were interesting and show a shift in how photography is used and the role social media has played in doing this. In Hal’s recent blog post it highlighted how many people try and create a certain image in order to make themselves look good. Snapping pictures of yourself in the mirror is another way to do a “selfie” and showing off muscles/weight loss/a new outfit seem to be the main theme of these pictures. Yet who are the pictures being taken for? To be put out there in the virtual world for loads of people we haven’t even had contact with in years. Social media is almost like a shop window where anyone can look in but do you really have to be the nodding dog in the window?

What happened to capturing moments to look back on in years to come? Will we really be busting out Facebook when we’re 80 on some miniscule device showing pictures of ourselves…… Won’t our grandchildren think we were lonely and sad?

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